Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Happy Christmas Mikey

This by far has got to be one of the best Christmas's. My little brother who most of you know is in the military and has been stationed in Mississippi for the last 3 months and will soon be leaving for a year in Afghanastan came home for a little over a week to celebrate the holidays with us. It was the greatest gift.

He arrived last Monday evening and we only thought he was staying until Thursday evening and then heading back, but a phone call on Wednesday afternoon from the army had delayed his leave time until today (a week later), YAY!!

It was a stupendous week. Tuesday, the walrus and I headed to mom and dad's with our gifts to celebrate Christmas early for my brother. It was crazy. I hadn't seen that many presents under the tree in years. I myself, got a mini-fridge, a coffee table, an entertainment stand and this totally rockin' dog tag with a pic of me and the brother just to name a few. There were gift certificates, fishing equipment and cooking supplies exchange also. Personally, I thought the walrus and I had done a pretty good job on my little brother. We had gotten him a new Nintendo DS and the 2 games to take with him to Afghany. He loved it, heck so did his wife (we found out she was playing it the next day while he was napping the next day). Mom also managed to whip up a huge and delicious ham, mash potatoes, green bean casserole and 3 or 4 other concotions for a family dinner. I didn't really get much down due to a terrible stomach virus that had been plaguing me since early Sunday morning and would continue to bother me for another week.

After, the walrus and I packed up a ton of presents we had received and made a quick trip back to my house to drop off the gifts before heading back to a local hangout to meet the family for more partying and of course, karaeokee. My brother managed to sing a few songs, whip everyone's ass in pool with my dad's help and drink the bar completely out of Jaegermeister. I am so proud of him. I had too stick to some ginerale which was just as well since somebody had to drive.

I finally visited the doc's on Friday to find out I was going to need a few more days of rest and no work (darn...haha). I chose to stay at my parents though just in case my brother ever stopped by again. He did on Friday for a few hours with his wife. The night was a short one though as he too had gone to the doctor and had a terrible cold and needed a little down time.

I began to feel better by Saturday and was able to return to work on Sunday barring a stomach that just wasn't ready for heavy drinking or Mexican, neither of which would be a problem...until Chrismas Eve.

Tuesday night, my awesome roommate offered to work my shift so I could head to the 'rents early for once on Christmas Eve as this is traditionally our Christmas. I arrived around 5:00pm to find everyone already partying and playing cribbage. I watched my parents get skunked and then the real fun started. The name of the game is "ASSHOLE" and yes, my parents played and yes my parents have played before, no joke. I played at first sipping 2 glasses of red wine before switching to 7-up as my stomach was in no shape to be drinking. I became the president almost immediately after switching to soda and remained the president until we changed games again. Go figure, hmmm.? The walrus arrived and we then finished the night with Cranium and we eventually busted out the karaokee machine. I hugged my dog, who was terrified of the loud noise and told him it would be okay and they would eventually stop. Eventually came around 2:00am. I was in bed by 1:30am. I couldn't make it. The walrus rose early with a HUGE hangover, courtesy of a bottle of Grey Goose and headed home to celebrate his second Christmas with his children. I managed to walk him to the door before going back to bed till about 9:30am when I again got up, but this time to say goodbye to my little brother. He was leaving to go to the in-laws and I would not be seeing him again. I gave him a big hug and told him to have fun. He laughed and so did I because he knew I was talking about being in Afghany and not going to the in-laws, although you never can tell, he could have been thinking of the in-laws :) After he left, I again went back to bed until about 10:30am when I finally had caught up on my sleep from the late night. I managed to hang with my mom piece for piece in a trivia pursuit game that ended at 6:00pm after a good 3 hours of torture with a tie between her and me. I plan to be victorious in the re-match.

Today he left mid-afternoon. I didn't get to talk to him again, but I thought of him on and off all day and my prayers are with him. I tear up thinking about the year without him that lays ahead. I know he is a man, but in my heart he will always be "my little brother."